From: Michael Straight <straight@email.unc.edu>
Subject: Re: (urth) Forlesen
Date: Thu, 25 Jun 1998 10:43:06 

On Wed, 24 Jun 1998, Derek Bell wrote:

> In message <199806242019.NAA25047@lists1.best.com>, Michael Straight writes:
> >Ack.  People keep referring to this novella and I've got a note somewhere
> >about how much I liked it, but I can't remember what it's about.  Could
> >someone please e-mail me a brief something to jog my memory?
> 
> 	It's about a guy who wakes up in a house, meets a woman who is
> his wife, glances through the manuals for his life, goes to work and
> his whole life is short, over before he can take control of it. It's
> been described as Kafkaesque, which is appropriate, though the
> authority in question is the one that supplies the "manuals" (for want
> of a better word) and makes the rules. Oh, the main characters' job
> seems particularly strange and pointless, with (other) people showing
> great enthusiasm for something that isn't quite clear. (It's either a
> course in motivation, a course in managment, a game or all three.)

Ah, yes (no, no, yes, no, yes, no)!  I get creeps just remembering some
of the instructions in the wife's handbook. 

Does anyone know where the word/name "Forlesen" comes from?  Don't tell me
Wolfe made it up or I shall be thoroughly disillusioned.

-Rostrum


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